


your face can't hide those lies you're choking on now

by supernova_darling



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Lies, Nonbinary Apprentice (The Arcana), Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29649714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supernova_darling/pseuds/supernova_darling
Summary: Lucio made more deals with the Devil after the Apprentice started helping him, and he realized too late what they would cost.
Relationships: Apprentice/Lucio (The Arcana)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 8





	your face can't hide those lies you're choking on now

**Author's Note:**

> 1) this is inspired by [this](https://www.instagram.com/p/CETCmcdFHJT/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet) post from @bast_art13 on instagram. go check out her page, their art is really amazing! their art piece is in turn inspired by [let us all down](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2QIxnLOMaw) by poor mans poison, which is the perfect song for lucio if i've ever heard one. title's from the song.  
> 2) please, please do not ask me where this would fit into lucio's route, i have absolutely no idea and i do not care!!!! i'm just writing angst i'm not worrying over trivial things like plot :P  
> 3) beta'd by my wonderful best frenemy [kai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowheart1)! they've vaguely accepted my love for lucio after a year. thanks for putting up with my shit sweetheart ;)

“You see, little Lucio’s been working for me all along.”

And suddenly all the eyes in the room turned on him. Even the Devil’s, his lips curling into a cruel grin.

“I can explain,” Lucio started, but the words escaped him. Under different circumstances, he’d smile and shrug noncommittally, as if to say  _ sorry  _ and  _ are you really surprised?  _ But for once he read the room. The air was heavy with a cloying tension that stuck in his throat and made it hard to breathe.

The Devil laughed, baring his teeth. “Can you? Go ahead, explain to your friends, to your  _ precious  _ Jem exactly how you got those chains lashed across your chest.”

From across the room, Jem was staring at him, their brows furrowed together. Lucio had always found it funny when they’d look at him like a puzzle to be solved, but this time he knew they wouldn’t like the answer.

“Lucio?” they asked, their voice still rich with a hope Lucio hated to kill. Still believing in him regardless of the evidence stacked against his favor. It broke his heart.

He didn’t know what to say, what could be said, so he just let Jem close the space between them and press a hand to his chest. They withdrew immediately after, staring somewhere near Lucio’s collarbone like it had burned them. He knew they’d seen the chains glowing around his torso, binding him to the Devil.

“Jem,” he whispered, but he choked on the lies when they met his gaze. This was a person who’d gone so far out of their way to help him, and who’d believed in him at every turn. Jem had risked their life for Lucio countless times, and in return he’d fed them false promises since the day they met. “I’m sorry,” he said instead, and for once he meant it.

Jem was doing a weird thing with their face, like they were trying not to cry or scream or punch him. Any of those reactions would have been preferable to the question that came next, voice quiet and steady despite their shaking hands. “Do you really love me?”

He sucked in a breath to stave off the sob rattling around in his lungs. “More than anything,” he breathed, and it felt as if his chest was caving in. Maybe the weight of the chains would finally do him in. It was what he deserved if he could make Jem ask him that.

“Oh, Lucio,” Jem whispered, reaching a hand to his cheek. They brushed the tears from his eyes and Lucio let them fall shut. He leaned into the touch and released the sob from his chest. It jumped out of his mouth and left his throat bruised.

“I really do love you,” Jem was saying next, and Lucio’s eyes snapped open at the finality in their voice. He realized what was happening a moment before Jem pulled their hand away.

Lucio snatched it back with his own shaking hands. “No, no, please, I—I’m sorry! Jem, I’m so sorry, please, don’t—”

When Jem looked at him again with only remorse in their eyes, he knew he’d lost them for good. They removed their hand from his slackened grip and backed away, shaking their head.

“You’ve bound yourself to the Devil, Lucio. To help you now would be to die.” Jem’s voice broke on the last word, and Lucio hated himself for making them cry. “I died because of you once, and maybe I would have done it again, but you  _ lied!”  _ They took an unsteady breath, and when they spoke again their voice was quiet. “You lied to me.”

“Jem, I’m sorry,” Lucio whimpered, out of breath and nearly out of time. “Please, don’t go.”

Desperate, Lucio looked to the others—Asra, Nadia, Scout—but found only disappointment in their expressions. One by one, they turned their gazes from him and left the room until only Jem was left. Lucio got as close to them as his tether to the Devil would allow. It might’ve been close enough for their fingers to touch if Jem had reached out to him.

Jem spoke with their back turned, meeting his eyes over their shoulder. The light from the doorway silhouetted them in gold, and it made Lucio’s heart ache. “I’m sorry, Lucio. I can’t trust you anymore.” Tears sparkled in their grey eyes, and they looked at the floor. “I never should’ve.”

In the next moment, they were out the door. It slowly creaked shut, until all that remained of the golden light was a sliver dancing across the room, and then that was gone, too. Reality slipped out of his grasp as the Devil dragged him from the mortal plane to his realm.

“I’m sorry,” Lucio repeated to the empty room. It echoed back to him until the Devil’s door slammed shut, and all was silent.

**Author's Note:**

> please do not interpret this as me hating on lucio! writing angst is done out of love <3


End file.
